Twisted Sister Info

- The band Silver Star, soon to be renamed to "Twisted Sister", was formed after "Jay Jay French" was added following auditions in the "band house" located in Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey in late December 1972- At a rehearsal on Valentine's Day in February 1973, Silver Star changed its name to Twisted Sister- In February 1976, at the suggestion of the band's agent, Jay Jay was urged to hire Dee Snider- It was reported that Twisted Sister had sold out the 3,000 capacity New York Palladium for a March 16 show without a recording contract or radio airplay- In 1982, Twisted Sister left New York to find a label in the United Kingdom- In June 1982, the group released its first EP, 'Ruff Cuts', on the Secret Records label. This was followed shortly by their first studio album, 'Under the Blade', produced by Pete Way of UFO- The future hit "We're Not Gonna Take It", was planned for release, but Secret Records went out of business before Snider was able to complete the lyrics- Their first LP under Atlantic Records, 'You Can't Stop Rock 'n' Roll', was released in 1983 - International fame came for Twisted Sister when the band's third LP, 'Stay Hungry', hit the stores on May 10, 1984- Thee band was singled out by the PMRC in 1985. the songs "Under the Blade" and "We're Not Gonna Take It" were specifically mentioned in the associated Senate hearings- Dee Snider was one of the few musicians to testify before a Senate committee in these hearings on September 19, 1985- On November 9, 1985, the band released its fourth studio album, Come Out and Play- MTV banned the video for "Be Cruel to Your School" on the grounds that it was graphically offensive. The song featured such guests as Alice Cooper (who also stars in the video), Brian Setzer, Clarence Clemons and Billy Joel- Snider then recorded an album featuring several musicians such as Reb Beach on guitar, Kip Winger and Steve Whiteman of Kix. Atlantic Records refused to release it unless it was labeled as a Twisted Sister album. So, on August 13, 1987 'Love Is for Suckers' made its debut- On October 12, 1987, almost two months after the release of 'Love Is For Suckers', Snider left the band, the record label cancelled its contract, and Twisted Sister disbanded- In 1998, the band recorded a song for the soundtrack of Snider's movie Strangeland